Beach has been teaching in Shelby for five years. He began taking martial arts at the age of seven in Albany, Ga., under his Grand master instructor, Virgil Crawford. His father wanted him and his brother to take martial arts, and when they started, they loved it. In March 1996, both he and his brother were promoted to black belt.

Tang Soo Do, said Beach, is South Korean in origin. A lot of South Koreans developed the style during the war, because they were less industrialized than their northern counterparts. They had to learn to fight with their bodies. That is one reason the style contains many jump kicks: the South Koreans had to be able to jump kick and knock their opponents off their horses.

Some of the main benefits Beach mentioned to taking martial arts include self-esteem and self-confidence.

“Mentally, you can become a stronger person,” he said. “You learn that you can overcome obstacles.”

He also said he likes seeing the transition people make by training and the way people push themselves to become better.

At his school, the belt progression goes from white to yellow, then green, blue, red, and black. Beach added the green belt for his school, to allow students more time to develop before using weapons.

Complete Martial Arts students go to competitions in the area, as well as open tournaments. Competing gives students an opportunity to see what’s out there, said Beach. And it is also something fun to do. But he said that learning to defend yourself is number one. That's why Complete Martial Arts recently held the Women's Self-Defense Seminar on March 30.

Beach said that the main focus of the dojo is “to improve our community through the progression of traditional martial arts training.”

By training students to be better citizens, martial arts studios like Complete Martial Arts are doing just that.

Complete Martial Arts is located at 129 West Marion Street. For more information, call them at 704-466-3101, email info@cmartialarts.com or visit their website at www.cmartialarts.com.